Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to pay tribute and respect to the late Tom Uren and, in doing so, give my sympathy to his family and his friends. Tom was to me and to so many in the Labor Party a leader, a mentor, an inspiration and a friend. Indeed, I agree with Senator Cameron that Australia is a better place thanks to Tom Uren. The contributions by Senator Cameron, Senator Moore and so many here certainly outline exactly why Australia is a better place.

Yet through all the hardship that he endured throughout his life, he was a man of compassion, a man of peace and a man of love. Tom Uren served Australia, served the Australian Labor Party, served the left and served the good people of Reid with all that he had. He made Australia's environment and heritage important—notions to be preserved, conserved and celebrated. He was not satisfied with utilitarian cities where Australians merely existed; instead, he made real the concept of beautiful, breathing urban spaces where Australians could live.

I first met Tom in my home city of Hobart, a place he had a connection with through his friend, and artist, Lloyd Rees. It was at the Hobart bookshop where he and his friend Martin Flanagan were sharing their journey of writing the book The Fight. I had a few moments with Tom after he signed my copy to talk about his prisoner of war experience, his experience on the Thai-Burma railway, about his time as a Labor minister and about the things that he loved in life. I felt such a warm feeling, so privileged to have just met this great giant of a human being, a true Australian legend, I thought, who had witnessed some of the worst of life yet was full of peace and love and kindness and who still held such a strong fighting instinct for fairness and justice under the Labor cause. He certainly made an impact that day on my life that would continue for many years thereafter, just like he did on so many in the Labor Party. I remember one day when I was talking to him on the phone, here in Parliament House. I was seeking his wisdom and advice on a particular matter. Tom, like always, simplified the solution down to values and what we, as Labor people, believe in. He said to me, 'Like a strong tree, I sometimes have to sway in the breeze, but I always keep my roots healthy among people.'

Tom was indeed a strong tree. He was an authentic Australian. He knew what it took to survive the worst of life—the fit must tend to the seek; the young must look after the elderly; the rich must look after the poor—and carried that philosophy throughout his life. Yet he knew how tough we must be to make the most of life: tough enough to abjure hate, yet still compassionate, still with a sense of beauty. Tom's achievements of preserving things and places of great beauty live on around us today.

Last week, at Tom's state funeral at Sydney Town Hall so many people came to pay tribute to this great man. Anthony Albanese, who emceed the service, gave a beautiful service and summed up Tom when he said:

You couldn't walk down the street alongside him without feeling the warmth that people had for him. People truly loved him.

Tom was a generous man and a genuine man, a people's man of people's principles. Tom was a man of passion for life, for people, for beauty in our environment and for love, a fighter for peace and for social justice, a man who lived out his beliefs every day of his life. I join so many in the Labor Party and in Australia in saying, 'We will miss you, Tom.'

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.